Jesus’ Call to Authentic Faith
Jesus was not big on the ceremonial traditions of Jewish religious culture. We see this repeatedly as we read about the questions he was asked by and in the interactions with the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were focused on rule keeping while Jesus was concerned about the condition of the human heart.
The Pharisees and Sadducees insisted on compliance to both God’s law and to their various additional requirements that were not in scripture. And lest we judge our Jewish ancestors too harshly, we often do the same thing. We tend to make our preferences and opinions equal to what God has declared in scripture.
In the first century, the religious leaders were rightly concerned about the power of Rome and what it meant to their faith and to their culture. Many hoped that the promised Messiah would rise up and overthrow Rome. It was the only way they could imagine God truly reconciling things on earth and giving them the freedom they wanted and believed they were entitled to enjoy.
As we follow the life of Jesus, we learn that he was not particularly concerned about political authority and power. He lived in submission to the authority of his father in heaven and consistently taught what life was like in the kingdom of God knowing that if we as image bearers of God, lived according to God’s ways then and only then would the broken systems and people in the world be truly renewed and restored.
We catch a glimpse of this in the teaching Jesus gave his disciples and other listeners after the Pharisees and Sadducees had questioned him about washing their hands before meals. As Jesus spoke to his followers after this exchange he said: “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person”.
The disciples were aware that this had offended the religious elite. And Jesus continued:
“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Peter needed more and asked Jesus to make it simple. After a short tutorial on the digestive system, Jesus added:
“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.”
Out of the heart come…
Evil thoughts
Murder
Adultery
Sexual immorality
Theft
False witness slander
Jesus gave no qualification that suggests this was only true for some people. The same heart problem exists for all people. The person on welfare and the person with more wealth and power than most of us can imagine. If one is lying, making accusations about others, involved in sexual sin, murdering or allowing people to be killed, or to Jesus’ point in the sermon on the mount, even pondering those things then there is a heart problem.
Once again, my finger wants to point at others but Jesus grimaces when I do. He wants us to look at the condition of our own heart and determine if it is time for repentance and renewal so that love, compassion, mercy, and justice might flow freely from us and toward those around us.
Father, the closer we get to the events of Good Friday the more we are convicted of our desperate need for your cleansing. Forgive us. Renew us. Use us to share your good news with someone today. Not because we see them as flawed but because we have allowed you to cleanse our hearts so that we see everyone as created in your image. Help us see Jesus in the eyes of those around us. In Jesus name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Matthew 15:10-20 ESV
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